The Great War: August 28, 1917

A long holiday weekend provides a chance to catch up on our story of Hudson in World War I. 

Late summer 1917 saw the departure of many soldiers from Hudson: Company F, Hudson's own unit of the National Guard, left for Fort Niagara; Hudson's Home Depot unit went to Highland to guard the Ashokan pipeline; and Company H, the New York City unit that had been stationed in Hudson since April to guard the railroad, returned to New York en route to France. On August 28, 1917, the front page of the Hudson Evening Register announced that four young men from Hudson, who had been trained as officers, had gotten there assignments.

 

Three, and possibly four, Hudson young men who received commissions recently at officers' training camps assume duties connected with their ranks to-morrow.

First Lieutenant John Gillette, of the United States army, son of ex-Alderman and Mrs. John W. Gillette, of Union street, left Biddeford, Maine, last Friday for Oglethorpe, Georgia, having been assigned there to instruct recruits and drafted men of the United States army. Lieutenant Gillette, who is 24 years old, is a graduate of Williams college and a widely known preparatory school. Last summer he was at the training camp at Plattsburgh, and this summer was at Madison barracks.

Lieut. Gillette at the Georgia camp is an instructor in an officers' training camp. One other man besides himself was selected from his company at Madison barracks and both sent to Fort Oglethorpe as instructors. He left New York on Sunday.

Donald H. Van Deusen, son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Van Deusen, of Allen street, who was commissioned a first lieutenant in the United States field artillery, reports to-morrow at Camp Dix, Wrightstown, N. J. He is 26 years old and a graduate of the Hudson High school, and in 1913 was graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at Cambridge, Mass.

Francis Cochrane, son of Supreme Justice A. V. S. Cochrane and Mrs. Cochrane of 437 Allen street, left to-day to join the Forty-ninth United States infantry, stationed at Syracuse. He has been commissioned a second lieutenant. Lieutenant Cochrane is 25 years old and is a graduate of Hudson High school, the Hotchkiss school, and in 1914 was graduated from Yale.

Another Hudson young man, Harold E. Burke, commissioned a first lieutenant, will probably receive orders some time this afternoon to report for duty.

Hudson is a very small city geographically, but it is still interesting to note in what close proximity these young men lived to each other. (Although they were all a few years out of college, they all still lived with their families.) Donald Van Deusen and Francis Cochrane were next door neighbors. Van Deusen lived at 441 East Allen Street; Cochrane at 437 Allen Street.

441 East Allen Street

437 East Allen Street

John Gillette lived in the Italian villa at 601 Union Street, and Harold Burke lived just down the street at 545 Union Street.

601 Union Street

545 Union Street

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